ORONO – The University of Maine’s hockey team has received a spark recently from the freshman line of Ben Murphy between Paul Falco and Johnn Ronan. They hadn’t scored much but put relentless pressure on opposing defensemen with their speed and physical play.

They added goal production to their resume on Friday night as they combined for three goals and four assists to help the Bears to a 7-1 victory over the University of Massachusetts at Alfond Arena.

Maine, which has won all 16 meetings with UMass in Orono, is now 18-9-6 overall and 12-5-4 in Hockey East play. UMass, four points behind Merrimack for the eighth and final Hockey East tournament spot, fell to 8-21-2 and 3-16-2 in league play.

The teams play again on Seniors Night on Saturday at 7.

The Murphy line shared the limelight with first-year right winger Colin Shields, who ended a seven-game goalless drought with his 21st and 22nd goals of the season.

Ronan had two goals and an assist, Murphy had a goal and an assist and Falco notched a pair of assists as the Bears clinched home ice for the Hockey East quarterfinals.

Lucas Lawson and Peter Metcalf had the other Bear goals and Peter Trovato scored for UMass..

“We’ve been getting a lot of chances and we got a couple of bounces tonight,” said Murphy. “It’s nice to score but we’ve got to remember what our role is.”

Falco added that any time their line can score, “it helps create more space for the other lines.”

“They’ve been playing well,” said Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead. “They’re a hard-working line with a good chemistry.”

He noted that Falco is fast and physical and buzzes around the ice; Ronan is a smart physical player with a good shot and Murphy is quick and does a lot of the little things well like win faceoffs.

After Ronan’s game-opening goal off the rebound of a Falco shot that bounced up and hit him in the stomach before dropping to the ice, Trovato answered just 16 seconds later when a miscommunication behind the Maine net resulted in a centering pass from Greg Mauldin that he converted.

Metcalf gave the Bears the lead for good at the 14:05 mark of the first period.

UMass rimmed the puck around the boards in an attempt to clear the zone and Todd Jackson tipped it to Metcalf at the left point. Metcalf swept a quick low snap shot that squeezed through the pads of UMass goalie Tim Warner.

“I’ve been working on trying to get the puck to the front of the net quicker instead of taking those stupid slap shots,” said Metcalf.

Shields gave the Bears a momentum boost with 1:09 left in the first period when he positioned himself in front of the net and deflected Francis Nault’s wrister from the point off the far post and into the net.

“Francis took a shot that was knee-high. It was a perfect shot to deflect,” said Shields who was relieved that his scoring drought was over.

“It was frustrating. You try a lot of different things like changing sticks,” said Shields, who had just two goals in his previous 11 games.

UMass kept the Bears pinned in their own end in the first couple of shifts in the second period but Mike Morrison made a few saves and the Bears built the lead to 5-1 on goals by Murphy and Lawson.

Murphy’s goal was created when Ronan took a slap shot from the top of the right circle and the rebound glanced over to Falco at the left wing boards.

“I just threw it to the front of the net,” said Falco, whose shot went off Warner’s pads to the wide open Murphy at the top of the crease. Ronan was standing next to him.

“I just pulled it around him,” said Murphy who tucked a backhander into the empty net.

Lawson was sent in alone down the left wing by Niko Dimitrakos and roofed a backhander over Warner’s glove.

Morrison and Warner were replaced by Matt Yeats and Mike Johnson, respectively, at the outset of the third period.

Shields capped his sixth multiple-goal game by beating Johnson between the pads on a breakaway generated by a Tommy Reimann pass.

Ronan scored his second with a 40-foot slap shot with just over a minute left.

“This was a good team effort. It looked like the lines were clicking,” said Lawson. “We wanted to be patient, get the puck deep and work down low on their defensemen and forwards.”

BLACK BEARS 7, MINUTEMEN 1

Massachusetts (8-21-2) 1 0 0 ? 1

Maine (18-9-6) 3 2 2 ? 7

First period ? 1. Maine, Ronan 2 (Schutte), 6:14; 2. UMass, Trovato 4 (Mauldin), 6:30; 3. Maine, Metcalf (unassisted), 14:05; 4. Maine, Shields 21 (Nault, Greyeyes), 18:51; Penalties: none

Second period ? 5. Maine, Murphy 4 (Falco, Ronan), 9:45; 6. Maine, Lawson 10 (Dimitrakos, Nault), 14:39; Penalties: UMass, Regan, hitting from behind, 3:09; UMass, Hanson, roughing, 15:46

Third period ? 6. Maine, Shields 22 (Reimann, Schutte), 5:41; 7. Maine, Ronan 3 (Murphy, Metcalf), 18:44; Penalties: Maine, Falco, roughing, 5:58

Shots on goal: UMass 8-5-11?24; Maine 14-13-11?38

Goaltenders: UMass, Warner (27 shots-22 saves), Johnson, 0:00 of third period, (11-9); Maine, Morrison (13-12), Yeats, 0:00 of third period, (11-11)

Power-play opportunities: UMass 0-for-1; Maine 0-for-2

High-percentage scoring chances: UMass 2-3-3?8; Maine 7-9-3?19

Attendance: 5,289